


Consult

by bel_halliwell



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 11:05:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4433138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bel_halliwell/pseuds/bel_halliwell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lovechild au: Emily learns firsthand exactly how much her moms are willing to stick up for her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Consult

“Consult? What do you mean, he wants to consult with us?” Chloe asks.

“That’s the term he used, basically we have to go down and meet him this afternoon,” Beca tells her.

“Did they say what it’s about?” Chloe asks, glancing at her schedule for the afternoon.

“Apparently, Emily hit someone,” Beca replies.

Chloe pauses, frowning. “Emily? Our sweet Emily? She hit someone?”

“According to the principal,” Beca replies again. There’s an edge to her voice.

“Did he say why?”

“No, she wouldn’t say. So he wants to ‘consult’ with us this afternoon, at three. Do you think you can make it?”

Chloe nods, then realizes Beca can’t see that. “Yes,” she responds. “I’m supposed to have a meeting with Alex about the travel arrangements for the out of state singing championships next month, but I’ll swing by his classroom before my next class starts and change it. So I’ll see you at three?”

“See you then. Love you,” Beca tells her, and Chloe smiles softly.

“Love you too,” she says, and hangs up.

_______________________________________

“Hi sweetheart. Hi love,” Chloe says as she enters the lobby of the middle school to see Emily and Beca sitting side by side in squashy waiting chairs. 

“Hi babe,” Beca replies, watching Chloe take a seat next to Emily.

Chloe eyes their daughter. Emily doesn’t say anything, just sits in the chair with her hands folded in her lap, eyes down. Despite being tall for a fourteen year old girl, Chloe notices how small she seems hunched over. “Sweetie, are you okay?” Chloe asks gently.

Emily finally looks up. “No. I’m about to meet the principal with my mothers. How on earth is that okay?”

“Well, it’s not the end of the world, Em,” Beca says reassuringly. “Fighting’s never okay, but you also told me it wasn’t your fault, and that you weren’t the instigator. We believe you. We’ll just go in, see what the principal has to say, and go from there.”

Although she’s not sure what the exact issue is, or what her wife and daughter had already talked about, Chloe places an arm around Emily’s shoulders. “Just stay calm, and be honest. That’s all we ask. And we’ve got your back, okay?”

“Thanks, Mom,” Emily says, leaning into Chloe’s side slightly.

“Emily? The principal will see you and your parents now,” a voice calls, and they glance over to see the school secretary standing in front of the closed door of the principal’s office, her lips pressed tightly together.

The three Beale-Mitchell women stand, and walk over to the door. As they reach it, the secretary pulls the door open.

They step into the room to find the principal seated behind his desk, reclining back slightly in his chair. A highly polished name plate with ‘Mr Benson’ engraved on it sits square in the middle of the desk. He stands, and with his tall stance, broad shoulders and slight frown, it’s clear he’s used to intimidating people before he even needs to open his mouth.

“Mrs and Mrs Beale-Mitchell, Ms Beale-Mitchell. Please, come in and have a seat.” He gestures to the three empty chairs in front of the desk – hard, straight backed wooden chairs, a complete opposite of the comfortable waiting rooms chairs. Beca can feel herself tensing slightly, but takes a seat on one of the end chairs. Chloe sits on the other end, leaving Emily to slip onto the middle seat.

“Thank you very much for coming down,” he tells them, taking a moment to look Beca, and then Chloe, in the eyes. “I appreciate you clearing your schedules. It seems we have a concerning matter regarding your daughter.”

Chloe raises her eyes. Already, she wasn’t liking this man at all.

“And what seems to be the problem, sir?” Beca asks cooly.

He frowns slightly, and clears his throat. “It was reported to me this afternoon that Emily punched another student. I’ve already spoken to this other student, and he says it was an unprovoked attack. We have a zero bullying tolerance here, so it’s rather important that we all come to a solution.”

“A solution?” Chloe repeats.

“Yes. I need to ensure that this won’t happen again. Emily needs to understand that poor decisions mean consequences, whether it is detentions, or suspension-”

“Wait, you’re actually considering suspension for her?” Beca interrupts, frowning.

He narrows his eyes at the interruption, and nods. “Of course, it’s usually our standard for bullying.”

Beca turns to her daughter. “Em,” she says gently, “was it an unprovoked attack?”

“No, it wasn’t,” Emily replies quietly, eyes in her lap.

Beca turns back to face Mr Benson. “Okay, so the other student claims it was unprovoked, and my daughter is saying it wasn’t. So no, we’re not going to accept your current solution of focusing the sole consequences on my daughter.”

Mr Benson opens and closes his mouth a few times. He’s clearly not used to people not following his every word.

Chloe turns to Emily and places a gentle hand on the girl’s arm. “Em, can you tell us what happened?”

Emily bites her lip. “This guy, Luke, was harassing me, and saying some really horrible stuff to me. I told him to leave me alone and he wouldn’t, so I turned away to leave. But he grabbed my shoulder, which I wasn’t expecting, and spun around with my arm out to get him off me. He’d leaned in though, and my hand caught his face.”

Chloe rubs Emily’s arm reassuringly, while Beca narrows her eyes at Mr Benson. “So, at this point, we’re not going to discuss anything further with you unless you get this boy down here to re-explain. Call his parents too, if you wish. But we’re not letting this go.”

“Ms Mitchell, I hardly think-” Mr Benson begins, but Beca cuts him off with a sharp look.

“It’s Mrs Beale-Mitchell, thank you, and at this stage, I feel like my only other alternative is going to be to contact my lawyer about a potential harassment suit,” Beca tells him. 

He attempts to look her down, and fails. “You’ll have to wait until they arrive,” he tells her.

“That will be fine,” Chloe replies easily. “Do you want us to wait in your office?”

______________________________________

Ten minutes later, the three Beale Mitchell women are settled in an empty staff lounge. Beca and Chloe are nursing cups of coffee, while Emily sits slumped over, a foot aimlessly kicking the small coffee table.

“Em, it’s going to be fine,” Beca tells her, but is met with a shrug.

“Can you tell us exactly what this kid was saying to you?” Chloe asks.

Emily shoots her mothers a quick look, then drops her gaze back to her lap. “No.”

Beca and Chloe share a look. This is a first.

“Care to tell us why not?” Beca presses.

Emily sighs. “I’m really not comfortable repeating what he said,” she says quietly. “But he was making several derogatory remarks. Can we leave it at that, please?”

“Of course,” Chloe responds, after another shared glance with Beca. She really wishes she could get into Emily’s mind and figure out what the girl is thinking. 

They lapse into silence, and sit quietly for what feels like forever, but is really only twenty minutes.

The silence is finally broken by the door opening. Beca sits up straighter, as an older couple enter the room, followed by a teenage boy. The couple nod in greeting at Beca and Chloe, as they take a seat in the chairs opposite. The boy remains silent, dropping heavily into the chair next to his mother.

Mr Benson enters the room, making the space feel much smaller. He takes a seat against the wall in between both families, and Chloe can’t help but immediately notice his posture as he sits – feet planted wide apart, his size and attitude more intimidating that necessary.

“Mr and Mrs Medina, thank you so much for joining us today,” Mr Benson begins. “I apologize for the interruption in your day.”

“It’s fine,” replies Mr Medina. He frowns at Emily, and then shoots a glare at his son. “What exactly is this about?”

“Well, we seem to have conflicting reports about an incident that occurred this afternoon,” Mr Benson tells him. “Your son has informed me that he and Emily were simply talking, and she was angry about something, and he tried to leave and she hit him.”

“She hit my son?” Mr Medina exclaims, sitting forward. He glares at Emily. “That’s not acceptable-”

“However,” Beca cuts in, effectively breaking off Mr Medina. “My daughter has shared her side of the story, and your son was verbally harassing her. When she tried to leave, he grabbed her, and her hand caught his face as she swung her arm up to get him off.”

She engages in a stare with Mr Medina. When it appears that they don’t plan on looking away anytime soon, Chloe clears her throat. “Clearly, there’s a difference in story here,” she says calmly. “I believe my daughter when she says something, as she’s never lied to us before. I can’t speak for your son, obviously, but there’s been a miscommunication somewhere.”

Mrs Medina, who had been sitting silently so far, turned to look at her son. “Lucas,” she says evenly, “what exactly did you say to this girl?”

Mr Medina breaks eye contact with Beca to shoot his wife a look of surprise. “Erica, don’t be silly,” he starts, but she holds a hand up. 

“Lucas?” she repeats.

Luke squirms in his chair slightly, shooting a quick glance at Emily. “I might have been teasing her a little. But it wasn’t anything big, just stupid stuff.”

“No it wasn’t!” Emily bursts out, and all the adults in the room turn in surprise to stare at her. Chloe’s slightly alarmed by the look of anger and frustration on her daughter’s face. “You weren’t just teasing me. You know exactly what you were saying.”

Luke glances at Beca and Chloe, and flushes.

“Lucas Matthew Medina, you tell me exactly what you were saying right now,” Mrs Medina says sharply, ignoring her husband who was slowly turning red with anger.

Luke remains silent, his eyes now on the ground. 

Mr Benson turns to Emily. “Ms Beale-Mitchell, perhaps you should tell us.”

“I’d rather not, thanks,” she replies through gritted teeth.

Mr Benson smiles. “Right, well if you’re not going to say anything, then I’ll-”

“He asked me out and I turned him down, and then he told me I was a dyke just like my parents and I was going to hell for it,” Emily finally bursts out. A tear finally slips down her cheek, yet she ignores it as she stares into her lap.

Chloe feels her heart wrench for her daughter, and she reaches out to take one of Emily’s hands in her own, giving it a light squeeze. She knows exactly how her daughter feels – she’s unfortunately come across more than one homophobic person in her life, and it’s never a pleasant experience.

“You – you two – you’re dykes?” Mr Medina splutters out.

Chloe’s mouth drops open, and she immediately puts a hand on Beca’s arm to stop her from leaping up. Mrs Medina is looking equally as shocked, staring at her husband as if she’s never seen him before. Mr Benson simply clasps his hands together, a tight smile on his face.

“We prefer the term lesbians, actually,” Beca replies. There’s fire in her eyes and honestly, if Chloe’s hand wasn’t on her arm and her daughter wasn’t crying, she’d be ripping both Luke and Mr Medina a new one right now. “But that’s neither here nor there. We’re a legally married couple, and there is absolutely no excuse for your son to have treated my daughter that way.”

“I’m sorry,” Luke finally mumbles. It’s clear to Beca that he’s just realized how much trouble he’s in with his mother, who’s now glaring daggers at him and his father.

“Mrs and Mrs Beale-Mitchell, Emily,” she says, “I apologize for the appalling behaviour of my husband and son right now. There is no excuse.” She turns to face Emily. “Emily, I apologize for my son’s actions, and I will most certainly be having some long conversations to him about the right way to speak to women. Please don’t worry about accidentally hitting him earlier, it appears it was most deserved.”

Mrs Medina now turns to Mr Benson. “Under no circumstances is this poor girl to be punished for anything that happened today,” she tells him firmly. “Now, my family and I are going to leave. I’lll be in touch with you later.”

Mr Benson nods dumbly, watching her stand with her husband and son, and file out of the room. He then turns to Beca, Chloe and Emily.

“Well, it seems there’s no need to discuss anything further,” he tells them, standing up.

Beca raises her mouth, ready to blast him for the treatment he’d given them earlier in his office. But Chloe, who still has a hand on her arm, gives a soft squeeze. They watch as he also leaves the room, so that they’re the only ones left.

“Emily,” Chloe says softly. “Look at me.”

Emily sniffles, and brings her eyes up to her mother. 

Chloe reaches out to wipe away a couple stray tears from her daughters’ cheeks. “Emily,” she says gently, “it’s okay. I know that what that boy said to you was disgusting, and horrible. But it’s not true. Unfortunately, there are always going to be people in this world who haven’t caught up to the times. It doesn’t make them right though.”

“And we’re really proud of you for how you handled everything today,” Beca adds.

Emily gives a half-hearted shrug. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what he said,” she tells them.

“Did you think it would hurt our feelings?” Chloe asks, and Emily nods. Chloe gives her a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, trust me. Honestly, we’ve heard it all before, and it doesn’t bother us. We know the real truth.”

“Please don’t feel like you can’t tell us something because you think it might hurt our feelings,” Beca says. “We can handle it, I promise.”

“Thanks Moms,” Emily says, finally allowing a small smile to show. “You guys are seriously the best parents a girl could have.”

Chloe grins, and pulls Emily into a hug. Beca reaches over and envelops them both as well, and Chloe closes her eyes to relish the feeling of her two most favourite people in the world with her.

After several moments, they draw apart. “So, what do you say we blow this joint and go get some ice cream?” Beca says, grinning when Emily’s smile widens.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Chloe answers. She takes her daughters hand and they stand together, as Beca gets up and moves to take Emily’s other hand. 

Together, they exit the staff room, each feeling much lighter than an hour ago.

Fin.


End file.
